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Full coverage of the US elections 2008Christopher Hitchens has launched a scathing attack on the Iowa primary. He argues that the system encourages treating, if not downright corruption, and that candidates are made or broken by unrepresentative militants nearly half the 85,000 Republican caucus voters, he reckons, are crackpot God-botherers.

Primaires test more than the musical skills of the candidates

Well, maybe. But, whatever all their faults, I wish we had primaries in Britain. Three quarters of our MPs occupy safe seats. Unless they do something truly monstrous, they have jobs for life. It's even worse on the Continent: the party list model means that a parliamentarian depends on the goodwill of his leader, not his constituents. However much of a mediocrity he is, however unrepresentative his opinions, however often he in American terminology "votes against his district", he can't be got rid of.

The US primary system tests candidates in a way that few European politicians could handle. They are required to prove themselves in every kind of context: in front rooms, on television, in election material, at huge rallies. The duds and the Coriolanuses soon get found out.

Yes, primaries are expensive, but Americans are much more comfortable than Europeans with the notion that you should make your own money before presuming to tell everyone else what to do with theirs. And, as I've argued before, the surge in small online donations mean that candidates are no longer dependent on big corporations or labour unions.

The fact is that system works. I don't think I've ever met an embarrassingly low calibre American Congressman. I've met plenty I've disagreed with. I've met some who have been dull-witted or pompous or too-eager-to-please. But I've never been left wondering how the hell someone got elected. I wish I could say the same about European MPs let alone MEPs.